Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-16

Cregan, CLERK. Inc Otner ulstrlctS nave
comparatively few evictions. The frst
is chiefly office buildings snd stores, whsre
dispossess proceedings are seldom nsfes-
sary, and where eviction does notinean
starvation. The Third is On theT west
side, and includes the Ameficsg Ninth
ward, where there are many Odd houses
owners. The Eighth takes The upper
Broadway and fashionable New York.
The Ninth has gO0dly number OF dis
possess proceedings, but not mary evic-
tiops; neither has the Eleventh, and the
Tenth is up in the annexed district, where
being civil justice is q picnic.
1t is down town on The east side that
dispossess proceedings form the chief
work of the court, andtas many persons
are forced to leave their homes IN Steck-
ler's district, work for five marshals, and
they would average about five evictions q
week each, without counting the 1000
families who see they have to go and
leave without forcible eviction. JUS
tees Mccarthy and Mcneil also have five
marshals to enforce the legal proceed
/ ings of the court, while Justice Rogers
heeds none.
70 say that there were some 10000
families driven out OF their homes this
year carries only part of the mesuing.
The average number of persons in those
poor families is greater than in rich or
well-to-do families. 1t is fair estimate
to say that il those 10000 families there
were 120 900 men, women and children,
most OF whom We're unable to earn q
Sufficient living. The item of rent was g
great one with them, out of proportion to
what it is 10 Il man with 4 moderate
income. A laborer earning 81 day, or
S26 q month, has to pay from ST so to $40
rent, or over & third o! his Income, while
q workman who gets IS 80 4 day, will not
pay more than Slj or SIS a month rent
With the majority of those 10000 fami-
lies the rent was more than they could
bear, snd they sUccumbed. The head Of
the family may have been sick, on q spree,
or out Of work. The family could econU-
miZe in food, fuel and clothing, but they
lived in the cheapest tenement already,
and the rent forced them out. 1t is q
puzzle where they go.
Ina dispOssess proceedings IL the
courts do not by any means give the full
number Of families VINO are forced from
their homes oy various reasons. Under
the law the landlord must give notice to
the tenant first, and thousands of tenants,
knowing that the disregard the notice will
only bring forcible eviction, sell or cast
away their furniture ard wander out into
the city al once On the money obtained
from the sale of their furniture they may
live awhile, and then nobody notices how
they are swallowed up.
OF course there is another side to it in
few cases, and there are professional rent
evaders, who take advantage of the tech
nicaliiies of the law, the leniency OF the
justices to the poor and the multitude OF
wort, y cases, to escape paying rent when
they could il they would. When tenant
hires from to month he can hold over for
another month if not notified to go five
days before the first day of the next
month. Otherwise, ne can hold Oh, and
if ne rents by the year he can hold on for
another year. Or if he is behind in his
rent, he Can make the landlord prove
ownership, previous notice, specific con-
tract, and violation of it before he car be
forcibiy elected. 1t is not easy for the
landlord TO 60 all this if the tenant
choose to fight.
Notwithstanding the general impress
sion, drunkenness and shiftleSsnesS in
themselves are not the immediate cause
of many evictious. A mans drunkenness
NAV cause him TO loose his place, and
then without work no has no moons, but
as long as he works his wife usually man
ages to get enough of his pay to pay the
rent. Lack Of work and sickness or
death in the family are the main causes
Of falling behind in the rent. The family
get so far behind in their rent that it is
next to impossible 10 pay up, and they
oil Of
niture, and start over again in new
neighbOrhood. If the father gets work
then and is in good health he may regain
a home. If he doesn't, his family breaks
up and he may become tramp, q crimi-
nal, or pauper.
As o rule the civil justices try to act as
peacemakers between the landlord and
tenant. Where the tenant is able to pay
they usually succeed. In all cases they
give the tenant time, and try to prevent
tCrcihle election by the marshSls. In not
over quarter Of the cases is it necessary
TO call in the assistance of marshal to
get the tenant out. Attached to several
of the district courts is charitable Or
ganization. IN extreme cases the JUS
tees and clerks at the court chip in to pay
the rent.
Several of the justices talked about
their experiences with eviction cases.
They are much alike. The following from
Justice Mccarthy speaks for the other
east-side districts:
"There were some $500 dispossess pros
ceedines in the Fifth district court this
year. In not over third of them was
forcible action taken. In the others the
tenants moved as soon as they saw 1t was
inevitable. Three-quarters OF the cases
were in arrears in rent. The others were
where the landlord had given the tenant
notice to leave at the end of the month
and the tenant had not left. Some OF
the cases are professionals. They come
up several times year. They would
rather move than pay rent, even though
they are able TO. They get in arrears and
hang on till the last moment, when they
pack up and move.
"Most of the cases are Irishmen and
Jews. Native Americans are rarest and
Germany next. Jews do not always 60
on summons, but they often fight the
case IN court and cause the landlords lot
of trouble to prove his side. Jews are
good pay but litigious. Many OF them
have picEed up good knowledge Il the
| law and conduct their own cases admira-
by. l dc not know where the evicted
tenants 70, but probably to cheaper quar-
tiers We look after all that we CAP, and
often we raise the money among ourselves
to paw the rent. Sometimes we are i'm
posed on, 100"
/ Anti Railway Verdict,